arteducation

My career as a dance professional extends back to the late nineties, when I travelled to San Francisco to work under the guidance of Keriac, studying experiential anatomy. This work lead me to develop as a performer of primarily improvised performance work in the Bay Area. During this period, I was lucky enough to share spaces and process with the likes of Keith Hennessey, Jess Curtis, Kathleen Hermesdorf and Sarah Shelton Mann.

I arrived in Lincoln, Lincolnshire, where I now live, in the early 2000s. In the early days, I worked as an independent dance artist, creating site specific residencies on beaches, in woodland, and in museums. During this period, I also toured as an emerging choreographer, exploring autobiography and performance. Scholarships took me to New York, where I studied at the Movement Research Centre, nourished by input from the Trisha Brown Company, Ishmael Houston Jones and Chris Aiken. Alongside this I honed my skills as a facilitator, nurturing people of all ages towards and into a variety of movement explorations, in schools, residential homes for the elderly, integrated settings, hospitals and prisons.

By 2010, I had transitioned towards academia and after a variety of visiting lecturing posts, I co-designed and became director of the undergraduate and post graduate dance and choreography degrees at the University of Lincoln. Here, I undertook several leadership roles, such as Head of School, school representative of the Lincoln Academy of Teaching and Learning, and Senior Academic Tutor. During this time, I contributed to several programmes as undergraduate and post graduate External Examiner and sat on several validation committees in the UK and Europe. I am currently External Examiner for Leeds College and University of Edinburgh.

Since leaving the University in 2021, I have worked as a researcher for an Independent Dance House in the East Midlands, designing post graduate and undergraduate dance programmes, and residencies for professionals. In 2023, I started working as Dance Artists Manager for Aesop, a company delivering arts interventions for social problems. Alongside this work, I have reignited my independent practice and launched Somatic Reach.

"Kayla works with educational and charitable organisations in curriculum development, validation and workforce development in the UK and Europe. She positions herself as critical friend to identify and celebrate best practice, to articulate constructive and achievable recommendations for change, and to create bespoke programmes of activity for arts engagement across professional, community and educational settings."
Dr Justin Hunt, Lecturer and Creative Practitioner (London)